Dirigible headlight



WITNESS:

H. F. FOWLES DIRIGIBLE HEADLIGHT Filed June .3, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 1/7! f Few/ea mVEN-rcR ATTORNEY Jan. 6, 1925. 1,521,675

H. F. FOWLES DIRIGIBLE HEADLIGHT Filed June 3, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR ATTORNEY WITNBS:

Patented Jan. 6, 1925.

UNITED STATES HENRY F. rownns, or SPOKANE, WASHINGTON.

DIR-IGIBLE' HEADLIGHT.

Application filed June 3, 1922. Serial No. 565,508.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY F. FoWLEs, acitizen of the United States, residing at Spokane, in the county ofSpokane and State of I'Vashington, have invented new and usefulImprovements in Dirigible Headlights,

of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to headlight mountings for automobiles and hasfor its object the provision of a novel device by means of which theheadlights of a Ford automobile may be caused to throw the light uponthe roadway or within front of a car regardless of whether the car betravelling along a straight road or the going around corners.

An important object is the provision of a headlight mounting which isdesigned to be secured upon the mud guard holders by means of afastening element which passes through the hole or socket commonlyprovided for the securing of the headlight standards, this bracket beingprovided with ncvel means for supporting the headlight standardssubsequent to their removal from their accustomed place upon the mudguard holder, the bracket member further carrying an operating elementwhich is connected with and moved by the steering arm of the vehicle.

Still another object is the provision of a novel connection between bothof the headlights and the steering arm whereby flexibility will bepermitted and so that binding of the parts during thecoaction thereofwill be absolutely prevented.

An additional object is the provision of a device of this characterwhich will be simple and inexpensive in manufacture and installation,highly efiicient in use, durable in service, positive in action and ageneral improvement in the art.

With the above and other objects and advantages in view, the inventionconsists in the details of construction to be hereinafter. more fullydescribed and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings inwhich- Figure 1 is a top view of the front pore tion of a Fordautomobile equipped with my device.

Figure 2 is a side view.

Figure 3 is a perspective view showing the arrangement of parts at theleft headlight,

Figure 4: is a longitudinal section taken through the lens supportingbracket, and Figures 5. and 6 are detail vi s.

Referring more particularly to the draw ings the letter A designatesaportionof the frame of an automobile of the Fo'rd type, B designates thefront mud guard holder which is formed at its end with a bracket portionC bolted to the frame A and which is formed near the frame with a socketwithin which is ordinarily engaged the standard E of the headlamps F. Itis well known that the top of this socket portion B is formed withspaced ribs G with which cooperates a fiattened or cutaway flange H onthe headlamp standard for the purpose of preventing the headlamp.standard from having any rotary displacement with respect to the socket,of the mud guard holder. The letter I designates the steering arm withwhich isfconnected the steering rod'J by means of the usiigl ball andsocket connection indicated at In carrying outmy invention I remove theheadlamp standard E from engagement with the socket D and secure uponthe mud guard holders B at each side of the machine a bracket memberdesignated broadly by the numeral 10 and formed preferably as a singlecasting. This bracket member includes a body 11 which is. formed at itsupper and lower end with forwardly 'e'X tending arm portions 12 and 13respectively and which is also formed at its top portion with arearwardly extending arm or bearing portion 14:. Inorder to hold thebracket member 10' in position upon the mud guard holder B, I provide abolt 15 which has opposite sides of its head 16 cutaway as shown inFigure 6 for fitting engagement between the ribs G so that rotation ofthe bolt will be absolutely prevented. This bolt has a cylindricalportion 17 which fits within the socket D and below this cylindricalportion is formed with a portion 18 which is rectangular incross-section and which fits within a similarly shaped hole 19 in therear extension 14 of the bracket 10. The lower extremity of the bolt 15is reduced and threaded ,as indicated at 20 and carries the nut L whichis ordinarily provided for securing the headlamp standard within thesocket B. By this means it will be seen that the bracket 10 will beabsolutely rigidly secured with respect to the mud guard holder so thatno movement or displacement will be permitted.

The arm 12 of the bracket 10 is formed with a vertical bore .21. which irotatably mounted a sleeve 22 which passes through a disk 23 formed inits underside with a ball race 24 which cooperates with a ball race 25formed in the upper surface of the arm 12, these races havlng disposedbetween them a plurality of balls 26.

The sleeve 22 is of course formed with a central bore 27 and is screwedonto the lower threaded end of the standard E. it is tobe noticed thatthe disk 23 is formed with spaced ribs 28 which engage against theoposite flattened portions in the flange H of the standard E so as toprevent rotation of the standard with respect to the disk and sleeve. Itis of course obvious that the disk 23 must be engaged upon the sleevesubsequent to screwing the latter onto the standard. Screwed into thelower portion of the sleeve 22 is a vertical stub shaft 29 which isjournaled through a suitable hole in the lower arm 13 of the bracket andupon the lower extremity of which is secured a rearwardly extendingoperating arm 30 which terminates at its rear end in a fork 31.

' Surrounding the shaft 29 is a spring 29 which bears against theunderside of the arm 13 not only for preventing rattling but for holdingthe disk 23 down upon the balls 26. This, spring also. serves to holdthe parts firmly together so that the disk 23 and sleeve 22 will turntogether.

The structure at both sides of the machine, that is at both headlightsis exactly the same and in order to effect simultaneous movement of theheadlamps, I provide a connecting rod 32 which extends across the frontportion of the machine under the frame thereof and which has one endpivotally connected by a bolt 33, with a link 34 which is pivotallyconnected at 33 with one fork 31. The other end of the rod 32 ispivotally connected by a bolt 33 with the other fork 31 of the otherlamp mechanism. The numeral 36 designates an operating link which isconnected with the bolt 33 andwhich has its other end connected with oneof the bolts M which hold the ball socket cap at the connection K.

Assuming that the device has been con-- structed and assembled as abovedescribed, the operation is as follows: When the steering gear of theautomobile is operated to turn the front wheels in the one direction orthe other and thesteering arm I is of course moved, the operating link36 will impart corresponding movement tothe connecting rod 32 and thiswill result in swinging the links 34 and the arms 30 which are connectedwith the lower ends of the vertical shaft 29. As these shafts 29 areturned the sleeves 22 carried thereby will also turn and as thesesleeves carry the standards of the headlamps it is apparent that theheadlamps will be correspondingly turned so as to throw their lightdirectly upon the roadway in advance of the automobile as gardless ofthe direction of travel thereof. In this it will be seen that there willalways be light upon the read even though the automobile is turning asharp corner. Owing to the peculiar construction and the mounting of thevarious parts it will be apparent that there can be no looseuess ordisplacement so that an efficient, positive and quick acting operationwill result. Owing to the simplicity of the construction and the fewness of the parts it is apparent that the device may be constructed andinstalled with very little expense and that there is nothing to get outof order and that the entire mechanisnr should conse quently have a longlife and give satisfactory service.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of theinvention, it is of course to be understood that I serve the right tomake such changes in the form, construction and arrangement of parts aswill not depart from the spirit of the ii vention or thescope of thesubjoined cla Having thus described my invention 1. claim;

In a dirigible headlight mounting, an angular bracket adapted fordisposition against the side of a vehicle frame formed with a rearwardlyextending apertures ear disposable beneath the stay rod socketsubsequent to the removal of the ill 14M ing through the socket andthrough ear for effecting securing of the bracket. bracket includingupper and lower forw ly extending arms formed with align; openings, asleeve rotatably engaged witle the opening in the upper arm and havinga: bore within which is secured the lower e of the lamp standard removedfrom socket, a rod journaled through the lo r arm of the-bracket andhaving its upper end secured within said sleeve, a rearward ly extendingbar on the lower end of said rod, said structure being duplicated atboth sides of the vehicle. a bridle bar connecting both of saidrearwardly extendin bars, and means connecting said'bridle bar with thesteering rod of the vehicle.

In testimony whereof I affiX my signature.

HENRY F. FOWLES.

